After six years of selling the idea, then planning, fundraising and hoping, Dylan Brent was more than ready to roll on Saturday at the official opening of the new Paris skate park.

He was just 14 when he joined Bev Brooker, who would become known as the “Skate Park Mom,” in an effort to create what would be a $150,000 concrete course outside the Syl Apps Community Sports Facility.

“I just want to skate it,” said Brent, now 20.

He said young skaters had no place to go when he was a young teen. Skateboarding on private property upset people and created tension in the community.

“We ended up getting into a lot of trouble and getting driven home in police cars.”

Brooker, concerned about the safety of skateboarders and their lack of a proper park, took up their cause.

“I started to do it because somebody needed to,” she said. “They needed an advocate.”

Brooker approached county officials about a potential skate park in 2006. Then, the Paris Optimist Club agreed to take it on as a 60th anniversary project.

A skate park committee, co-chaired by Brooker and Optimist member Marilyn McCullough and made up of a group of young people -- some skaters, some not -- worked year after year to promote the idea.

Through the Optimists, the park received a $75,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The County of Brant contributed about $51,000 and the Optimists, led by McCullough, held various fundraisers, including a chili cook-off and community run.

“There is such a respectful and friendly bond between the kids who use the park and the adults who built it,” said Brooker. “There is such a great energy here.”

The park was officially dedicated on Saturday to the young people who sat on the building project committee.

“I am so proud to say that this park is yours,” Brant MPP Dave Levac told them on Saturday. “You've shown a great deal of stick-to-it-iveness that most people your age don't have.”